I asked Stephen Kay, master synth programmer for Korg and inventor of KARMA, “What did you see at NAMM that impressed you the most?” Without missing a beat, he said, “Spectrasonics’ new Omnisphere.” So I strolled over to the Spectrasonics booth to have a look for myself. I had already missed a series of full-length demos given to large groups of NAMM attendees, so company founder and creative director Eric Persing graciously agreed to give me a brief personal demonstration. It was his final demo during NAMM, so I shot him. We’ll try to post a video clip on this site within the week.

Omnisphere is the forthcoming flagship soft synth from the makers of Stylus RMX, Trilogy, and Atmosphere. Containing many times the sample content of all those programs, it incorporates the new STEAM Engine, which will also be the basis of future Spectrasonics products. Omnisphere combines just about any synthesis architecture you’ve ever heard of (granular, FM, polyphonic ring mod, timbre shifting, and lots more) with some very unusual samples, complex modulation routing, and a new technique for morphing one instrument’s harmonics into another’s. And I was floored by its method for drawing and assigning finely detailed modulation envelopes and arpeggiation patterns in real time. Just about everything else I saw this week had a projected ship date around the end of February, but not this one. Look for Omnisphere on September 15 (they promise it won’t be late), selling for $499.

Today I had a semi-private demonstration of Kurzweil’s PC3X, the resurrected company’s first new keyboard in several years to incorporate VAST technology. The latest variation in the old K-Series’ synthesis architecture is called Dynamic VAST, apparently because you can specify as many components as you need to construct whatever sound you’re aiming for, and you can save your own algorithms as starting places for future sounds.

The factory-programmed voices I heard very accurately reproduced a tremendous variety of signature sounds from music made popular over the past few decades, from Led Zeppelin and David Bowie to the latest hip-hop hits, and it absolutely excels at orchestral and piano sounds. Judging by first impressions, I was simply blown away by the quality of every patch, without exception. Running off custom integrated circuits, the PC3X is a 128-note polyphonic instrument with an 88-note keyboard and an onboard multitrack sequencer. It’s expected to sell for around three grand and ship by the end of February. Or as they say around here, N.A.M.M. (Not Available, Maybe March)!

There’s something new at Universal Audio, crafted from hand-picked components, including new old stock (NOS) vintage vacuum tubes and custom-wound CineMag input and output transformers. It’s the LA-610 Signature Edition, a limited run version of UA’s respected LA-610 channel strip, comprising a mic preamp, DI, EQ, and opto compressor. Only 500 will be manufactured, and each will be signed by Bill Putnam, Jr. With a black faceplate and an electroluminescent front panel, the Signature Edition costs about $500 more than UA’s standard LA-610, and it’s destined to become a collector’s item.